Mystery
C o d e x
Mystery
C o d e x
$23.00 (US)
EDN4001
ISBN 1-891153-41-2
All Artwork ©1999 Eden Studios, Inc. CJ Carella’s WitchCraft™, Mystery Codex™
The world of WitchCraft is a place of
mystery, danger and dark secrets.
The magically aware all know that a major change is
approach-ing, a new era that will be preceded by terrifyapproach-ing, catastrophic
events. But the transitions brought on by this Time of Reckoning
are unknown. Great power, great destruction, great anguish -- all
or none may arise.
The threat of the Reckoning is not limited to humans. It has also
stirred beings from the Otherworlds, and creatures that once
were human, but now live on as Spirits or the Undead. Some of
them are willing to work openly, side by side with the Gifted and
the Mundane. Others prefer to operate in secrecy. Still others have
hidden agendas that they pursue ahead of any common purpose.
Only time will tell what lays ahead.
Time . . . and your choices.
Mystery Codex is a supplement for the WitchCraft roleplaying game.
In it, you will find:
Two new Character Types, the Spirits and Undead, with accompanying character creation rules, powers, vul-nerabilities and background for Ghosts, Phantasms, Vampyres and the Relentless Dead
New Associations: shunned Pariahs, dedicated Iscariots, elite Storm Dragons and death-obsessed Thanatoi New Invocations and Necromancy, the gruesome Disciplines of the Flesh, and the mystical Tao-Chi
Background on Geburah, the Sephiroth of the Dead
New Character Concepts, Qualities and Drawbacks, Skills and Rules
The world of WitchCraft is a place of
mystery, danger and dark secrets.
The magically aware all know that a major change is
approach-ing, a new era that will be preceded by terrifyapproach-ing, catastrophic
events. But the transitions brought on by this Time of Reckoning
are unknown. Great power, great destruction, great anguish -- all
or none may arise.
The threat of the Reckoning is not limited to humans. It has also
stirred beings from the Otherworlds, and creatures that once
were human, but now live on as Spirits or the Undead. Some of
them are willing to work openly, side by side with the Gifted and
the Mundane. Others prefer to operate in secrecy. Still others have
hidden agendas that they pursue ahead of any common purpose.
Only time will tell what lays ahead.
Time . . . and your choices.
Mystery Codex is a supplement for the WitchCraft roleplaying game.
In it, you will find:
Two new Character Types, the Spirits and Undead, with accompanying character creation rules, powers, vul-nerabilities and background for Ghosts, Phantasms, Vampyres and the Relentless Dead
New Associations: shunned Pariahs, dedicated Iscariots, elite Storm Dragons and death-obsessed Thanatoi New Invocations and Necromancy, the gruesome Disciplines of the Flesh, and the mystical Tao-Chi
Background on Geburah, the Sephiroth of the Dead
New Character Concepts, Qualities and Drawbacks, Skills and Rules
$23.00 (US)
EDN4001
ISBN 1-891153-41-2
All Artwork ©1999 Eden Studios, Inc. CJ Carella’s WitchCraft™, Mystery Codex™
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A Word to the Wise
As I did in the WitchCraft main rulebook, I would like to state expressly that the contents of this book are purely fictional and meant to entertain, not to enlighten, guide or suggest any real life behaviors. Some of the themes of WitchCraft may not be appropriate for younger readers, and par-ents should exercise their best judgment when reviewing this material.
As always, those who think any of the material here is anything other than fantasy intended for storytelling purposes are mistaken. Those who belittle, degrade and fear this and other roleplay-ing games may wish to seek psychiatric help and get a prescription for some happy pills. WitchCraft is no more a handbook for the occult than Monopoly (tm) is a manual of business
Writer and Game Designer
C.J. Carella
Additional Writing and Development
John M. Kahane and M. Alexander Jurkat
Editorial Director
M. Alexander Jurkat
Rules Editor and Playtest Coordinator
John M. Kahane
Copy Editor
Scott Maxwell, John M. Kahane
Proofing
John M. Kahane
Cover Art, Interior Design & Layout
George Vasilakos
Illustrations
Fred Hooper, Heather McKinney, rk Post,
Dan Smith
Playtesters
Kathy Bauer, Steve Bauer, Scott Coady,
Donald G. Fry, Iris Mori, Tammy Powers,
Steven P. Ross, Nick Roberts, stefanie wilson
Special Thanks To: Scott Maxwell for his
last-minute assistance and Iris Mori for
the million-and-one questions she asked
us on AOL (tm).
Eden Studios
15 Ledgewood Drive, Albany, NY 12205 CJ Carella’s WitchCraft™ , Mystery Codex™ , The Unisystem™, specific game terms, icons and personalities are copyright © 1999 CJ Carella. A l l A r t © 1 9 9 9 E d e n S t u d i o s . A l l R i g h t s reserved.
Reference material for your WitchCraft cam-paign may be found at www.llewellyn.com.
Produced and published by Eden Studios, Inc. under exclusive license.
No part of this book may be reproduced with-out written permission from the publisher, except for review purposes. Any similarity to charac-ters, situations, institutions, corporations, etc. (without satirical intent) is strictly fictional or coincidental. This book uses settings, characters and themes of a supernatural nature. All ele-ments, mystical and supernatural, are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes.
Reader discretion is advised.
Comments and questions can be directed via the Internet at www.edenstudios.net/witchcraft, via e-mail at Eden [email protected] or via letter with a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Second Printing, November 1999 Stock EDN4001 ISBN 1-891153-41-4 Printed in the U.S.
C r e d i t s
Chapter One: Introduction... 4
Introduction... 7
The New Order... 8
Summary of Chapters... 8
Conventions... 9
About the Author... 9
Chapter Two: Rules... 10
New Character Concepts... 14
New Character Types... 18
New Associations... 18
Attributes... 26
New Qualities and Drawbacks... 26
New Skills... 33
New Character Rules... 40
Becoming Gifted During Play... 45
New Combat Rules... 46
Poison... 52
Chapter Three: Inhumans...54
Creating Inhuman Characters... 56
Powers and Vulnerabilities... 57
The Inhumans... 58
Spirits... 61
Creating Spirits... 63
Errant Souls: Ghost Characters... 66
Champions of Death: Phantasms... 84
Undead... 95
Creating Undead... 95
Night Hunters: Vampyre Characters.... 96
Unliving Vengeance: Relentless Dead
Characters... 110
Chapter Four: Associations... 118
Fellowship of Judas... 121
House of Thanatos... 125
Pariahs... 130
Storm Dragons... 136
Chapter Five: Metaphysics... 142
Magic... 146
New Lesser Invocations... 142
Greater Invocations... 150
New Necromantic Powers... 160
Disciplines of the Flesh... 164
Tao-Chi: Mystical Martial Arts... 170
Lesser Tao-Chi... 171
Essence and Immortality... 174
New Item of Power... 175
Chapter Six: Supernatural... 176
Sephiroths... 178
Gateways... 180
Geburah: The Death Realms... 181
The Threshold... 181
The Twilight World... 185
Other Death Realms... 190
Denizens of the Death Realms... 192
New Dark Covenant... 196
Shapeshifters: Ferals... 200
Animal Spirits Stats... 204
Appendix... 205
Glossary... 205
Tables... 208
Index... 221
Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s
Chapter One: Introduction
“We are very close,” the tall man in the tuxedo said. Even in the weak light of the flash-lights, he looked utterly out of place. Although he was dressed like he was going to the opera, he was guiding a small group through the sewers beneath the city. He even wore a cape, for Crissakes! And a silly-ass cane, richly carved with gold inlays. The guy looked like a refugee from something on A&E or public television — not that Harold would be caught dead watch-ing either channel.
“I don’t trust him,” Harold muttered angrily. The hasty summons, the meeting with the stranger, and now this expedition into the cold, damp and above all stinking sewers had complete-ly ruined his mood. Fear of what lay at the end of the tunnel made it even worse.
Sally stared strangely at him. Her thoughts touched his mind telepathically. YYoouu bbeetttteerr sshhuutt uupp,, HHaarroolldd,, she sent. YYoouu ddoonn’’tt wwaanntt hhiimm ppiisssseedd ooffff aatt yyoouu..
W
Whhaatt ddoo yyoouu mmeeaann??he telepathed back.
I
I ddiidd aa ssuurrffaaccee ssccaann ooff hhiimm wwhheenn DDaavviidd iinnttrroodduucceedd uuss dduurriinngg tthhee mmeeeettiinngg.. MMiinndd aanndd bbooddyy ssccaann.. HHaarroolldd,, hhee’’ss nnoott eevveenn aalliivvee!!
W
Whhaatt??Harold started to telepath more, but then David broke into their psychic chat. He was the oldest member in the team, and was in charge of all the operations of the Cabal of Psyche in the city and surrounding areas. His Mindtalk was the strongest Harold had ever encountered. KKeeeepp tthhee nnooiissee ddoowwnn ttoo aa dduullll rrooaarr,, kkiiddss,, David sent. YYaakkoovv iiss aa ggoooodd ffrriieenndd ooff mmiinnee.. II ttrruusstt hhiimm,, eevveenn iiff hhee iiss ssoommeetthhiinngg ooff aa bbllooooddssuucckkeerr..
Harold and Sally exchanged looks but said nothing. Harold had never suspected David kept company with that kind of creature. Tuxedo — Yakov — bloodsucker. The guy was a vampire! Three Seers and a vampire — or Vampyre as the occultists prefer to call ‘em — crawling into a sewer looking for a monster. Harold didn’t know what the punch line would be to this joke, but he had the feeling he would soon find out.
They reached a corner. At their feed, the unending stream of waste had slowed to a weak trickle, but the smells had become even worse. The tuxedo-clad Undead did something to a sec-tion of wall, and it slid open with a grating, grudging noise. “These sewer tunnels are very old,” Yakov explained. “I was involved in some stages of their construction, and made a few minor modifications that do not show up in any map.”
“So how did that . . . thing find it?” Sally asked.
“An accident. It was prowling the sewers, and a section of wall must have collapsed during last year’s floods. When I became aware of its presence, I knew something had to be done.”
“And here we are,” David finished for him. “So less chit-chat and more walking, all right?” Yakov smiled. “Still impatient, old friend,” he said, but led the way once again.
Old friend? How old did that make David? Harold wondered. Some psychics could slow down the aging process. David appeared to be in his thirties, but he might be a hundred, two hundred years old. II mmiigghhtt lliivvee tthhaatt lloonngg,,Harold unintentionally projected. IIff II ssuurrvviivvee tthhee nneexxtt ffeeww mmiinnuutteess..
Sally chuckled nervously. She must have picked up his thoughts.
This tunnel was unlike the sewer system or maintenance shafts they had been using before. The walls were wider, allowing the group to easily walk three or even four abreast. A series of glowing strips provided faint but steady illumination, and they turned off their flashlights. A breeze arose, gently touching their faces as they advanced.
T
Thhiiss iiss ggoooodd,,David telepathed to the group. IItt wwoonn’’tt bbee aabbllee ttoo ssmmeellll uuss..
Before the thought was completed, the breeze carried its smell to them. Sally coughed and grimaced, and Harold actually dry-heaved a couple of times before regaining control over his guts. The stench was pungent, rich and sickening. Harold thought of a bag of rotten tomatoes, swollen with the gas of their corrup-tion, suddenly punctured and exposed to the air, and he dry-heaved again.
Sally touched his arm. CChhiillll oouutt,, she sent to him. The nausea magically disappeared, courtesy of Sally’s Mindheal. Harold nodded his thanks and continued walking, but his legs were feeling rubbery and weak.
They were hunting the Abductor, as the press had dubbed him — it. It had been responsible for at least a dozen and a half official disappearances and God knew how many unreported ones. The Abductor only attacked pedestrians, lone men and women whom it dragged into the sewers. Most of the attacks had happened in the worst neighbor-hoods. Many victims had doubtless gone unnoticed by the police or the media.
They passed the first body parts a few minutes into the tunnel. Harold did his best to avoid looking at them, stepping carefully over an arm, a leg, something that looked like half or two-thirds of a skull with maybe one-fourth of a face still dangling from it. Crusty, dried
blood crunched underfoot. It must have pooled when wet, and caked after it dried.
I
Itt’’ss ccoommiinngg,,David warned unnecessarily. Footsteps, beating an unnaturally fast tattoo on the stone floor, became louder by the second. Harold concentrated on his Mindhands, on the power to move and break things with his will. David and Sally also prepared their psychic abilities.
Yakov stepped forward. His delicate and manicured hands had been replaced with huge talons. His mouth was full of teeth. These were not the elegant fangs of vampire mytholo-gy, but rows of huge canines meant to rend and tear chunks of flesh with every bite. Harold did not know who he was more afraid of — until he saw the monstrosity rushing toward them.
It retained enough humanity to make its appearance all the more horrible. Tattered rags covered some of it but what he could see was enough. Its arms ended in huge clawed hands, twice as big as Yakov’s. Tentacles of pink intestine spread from openings in its mid-sec-tion, each one tipped by a piranha-like mouth. Its one central eye blinked furiously as it advanced.
Harold screamed in terror and threw every-thing he had at the monster.
It took an eternity before it was over.
Introduction
The world of WitchCraft is a place of mystery and dark secrets. Each Covenant holds a piece of the overall puzzle, but no organization knows everything. What they all know, however, is bad enough: a major change is approaching, a new era that will be preceded by dangerous, catastrophic events. The Time of Reckoning
approaches, and the transitions it will bring are unknown. Great power, great destruction, great anguish -- all or none may arise. The Covenants and asso-ciations that had largely stayed out of the affairs of the Mundane have begun to feel pressure to take direct action for the first time in cen-turies.
The threat of the Reckoning is not lim-ited to humans alone, however. It has also stirred beings from the Otherworlds, and creatures that once were human, but now live on as
Spirits or the Undead. Some of them are willing to work side by side with the Gifted and the Mundane, while others prefer to operate in secrecy, or have hidden agendas that they pursue ahead of any com-mon purpose.
The Mystery Codex is the first sourcebook for the WitchCraft game. The Codices will expand on the themes and ideas presented in the WitchCraft main rulebook. Information is given on new Covenants, on creating and using supernatural
This and future Codices will give Chroniclers and players new choices for their games. Choices are an important part of roleplaying games. WitchCraft is meant to accommodate several styles and themes, from heroic roleplaying to dark, over-whelming horror. Each gaming group should decide what choices to make when crafting their own WitchCraft stories. A Story of slow, terrifying discoveries might not work if the Cast Members include ancient Vampyres or powerful Phantom warriors -- or it might, if the Chronicler weaves a truly complex and powerful plot. By the same token, a quest of cosmic p r o p o r t i o n s needs larger-than-life char-acters to com-plete -- or it might work even better with rela-tively normal pro-tagonists called upon to perform amazing feats.
When choosing which elements of WitchCraft are appropriate for a story, the Chronicler must think about the consequences for his game. Something that brings fear to the heart of a Mundane might not faze a Relentless Dead, for example. Devising a situation that might awe and terrorize even a near-indestructible Undead will be challenging, but it may result in a highly dramatic story. This book and others will present players with as many choices as possible, giving all the ele-ments needed to devise any kind of mysterious and supernatural tale.
The New Order
This book marks a new phase for the WitchCraft line. As of the summer of 1998, Myrmidon Press no longer produces WitchCraft books. Eden Studios (the creative folks behind the Conspiracy X RPG and the Abduction card game) will now produce and market all WitchCraft (and future Unisystem) products. At a time when gam-ing companies seem to be droppgam-ing like flies, Eden has been consistently expanding, supporting their existing game lines and developing great new games. For WitchCraft, this move opens all kinds of exciting possibilities.
Relatively soon after this sourcebook is released, a new edition of the WitchCraft main rulebook will become available. This revised Eden Studios edition of WitchCraft cleans, clarifies and polishes a number of features of the game world, and the Unisystem. Those who purchased the First Edition of WitchCraft need not fear missing any-thing. This sourcebook presents the major clarifi-cations and/or revised rules in special text boxes. Using the Mystery Codex to update the First Edition printing of WitchCraft, all Chroniclers may enjoy the latest WitchCraft has to offer.
Summary of Chapters
Chapter One: Introduction contains these
introductory remarks.
Chapter Two: Rules provides new and
expanded game mechanics for any WitchCraft game. New Character Concepts, Qualities and Drawbacks, Skills, Combat and Martial Arts rules are given. A short discussion of several new covenants is also presented.
Chapter Three: Inhumans details four new
character types for player characters. Ghosts, Phantasms, Vampyres, and Relentless Undead are described. Special powers, abilities, rules and vul-nerabilities for each character type are addressed.
Chapter Four: Associations gives further
information on four new groups that player charac-ters might call their own. The psychologically scarred Pariahs, the elite Storm Dragons, the redemption-seeking Iscariots, and the immortal Thanatoi are given their due. Some, like the martial artists of the Storm Dragons, have a well-defined structure and organization, and a very detailed agenda. Others, like the Pariahs, are a collection of outcasts and misfits, marked by their scarred psy-ches as much as by their bizarre powers. And some, like the House of Thanatos, are dominated by supernatural beings.
Chapter Five: Metaphysics expands the
invo-cation and necromantic power lists. It also covers two new metaphysical arts: the martial arts-based Tao-Chi and the horrific Disciplines of the Flesh.
Chapter Six: Supernatural moves the
WitchCraft world beyond the mundane realm. The Death Realms are presented. A new Dark Covenant, and a new type of supernatural predator are also introduced.
Appendix: This section provides a number of
handy reference charts, as well as character sheets for the new Character Types.
Conventions
Text Conventions
This supplement has a number of features that identify the type of information presented. The text you are reading at the moment is stan-dard text, and it is used for general explanations.
Fiction is used to enhance or describe the WitchCraft world. This font indicates that fictional material is being read.
Dice Notations
D10, D8, D6 and D4 mean a ten-sided die, an eight-sided die, a six-sided die and a four-sided die, respectively. When a number appears before the D notation, that number of such dice rolled, and their results are added together. For example, 2D6 means roll two six-sided dice, generating a result between 2 and 12. Multipliers are expressed after the dice notation. For example, 3D10 x 4 means roll three ten-sided dice, add the results together, and multiply
that total result by 4. This generates a number between 12 and 120. A number in parenthesis after, or in the middle of, the dice notation is the default roll. This number is provided for those that want to avoid dice rolling and just get the result. So the notation 2D6 x 3(18) means that the default value is 18. Some notations cannot provide a set number because their result depends on a variable factor. For example, D8(4) x Strength is used because the Strength value to be plugged into that notation will vary depending on who is acting.
Book References
Throughout the text, references direct the reader to areas of this book and the WitchCraft main rulebook. These references use the chapter names for the Second Edition main rulebook.
Gender
While the third person male reference (he, him, his) is customarily used for both male and female, there is no question that it is not entire-ly inclusive. On the other hand, the “he or she” structure is clumsy and unattractive. In an effort to “split the difference,” this book uses male designations for odd chapters, and female des-ignations for even chapters.
About the Author
C.J. Carella was born in New York and has lived in Peru, Venezuela, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, and Connecticut once again. During his travels he has yet to experience any genuine supernatural events -- and he is not going out of his way to do so.
C.J. has authored some fifteen RPG books for such companies as Steve Jackson Games and Palladium Books, as well as numerous arti-cles for The Familiar, Pyramid and White Wolf magazines. Mystery Codex is his second book for WitchCraft, and his first book for Eden Studios.
Certain text is set off from the
standard text. This is sidebar
text and it contains additional,
but tangential information, or
supplemental charts and tables.
This text is unique to the Mystery Codex. It indicates rule changes or
revi-sions that vary from those presented in First Edition WitchCraft. These
alter-ations are included in Second Edition WitchCraft but are presented here for those that already own the prior edition.
This text includes Supporting Cast and Adversaries, and other game aids.
Chapter Two: Rules
It was going to be one of those nights.
“Intruders!” screamed my elemental guardian at the top of its non-existent lungs. “Intruders at the gate! Intruders!”
“Tell us something we don’t know,” Santa Claws, my Bast roommate, hissed from his perch on top of my armchair. His back was arched, and his tail was as puffed up as I’d ever seen it. I switched off the TV. It was only a rerun of Friends anyway. “Will you all relax?” I shouted, finally silencing the elemental familiar. “Let’s see who it is.” I went over to my PC and clicked on the security network. Camera One was off-line, probably destroyed by whatever was tearing the high-security metal door off its hinges. Camera Two, in the foyer, showed the door being twisted and pulled out of shape. It would get totaled any second now.
As the door was torn off its hinges, I took a last look at the expensive furniture and carpet-ing in the foyer. “Damn. What a waste,” I muttered as I concentrated. The intricate network of mystic symbols woven into the foyer’s floor came to life as I fed my Essence into it.
A misshapen monstrosity shambled into the foyer through the wrecked doorway. It looked only vaguely human, with long ape-like arms terminating in six-inch clawed digits, a huge mouth filled with multiple rows of teeth, and glowing red eyes.
The foyer exploded in white-hot flames. Camera Two went off line.
“Artame,” I called out to my elemental familiar. “Go check on our guest.” “But the flames...” Art was an air elemental. He really hated fire.
I made a mystical gesture. “They are gone now, mostly. The spell could only last a few sec-onds, anyway, and I’ve stopped empowering it. There will be some smoldering embers and such, but that is all. Go!”
Artame flew down the hallway. I checked on Camera Three, which kept watch on the living room. I could see smoke filtering through the double doors separating it from the foyer. With a couple of mouse clicks, I disconnected the smoke alarms and directed the fire-suppression sys-tem to deal with the fire. All electronically -- why use magic when you have the best security system money can buy?
“Are you sure it’s dead?” Santa Claws asked, giving me a cold, calculating stare.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” I replied. “It should be, though. That flame spell was power-ful enough to char-broil anything.”
The double doors to the living room collapsed inward, shattered by a brutal impact. “Or maybe not.”
The creature, looking some worse for the wear, strode in. Burned black flesh flaked off with every step; pink, fetus-like skin could be seen beneath. It swiped at empty air, and in my mind I heard Artame’s cry of terror. The elemental could not be seen by cameras or mortal eyes, but the intruder had detected him. No fool he, Artame fled the way he had come, screaming bloody murder and cursing me for sending him on a suicide mission.
“What do you mean ‘we,’ white man?” Santa Claws said, but he jumped off the armchair and followed me anyway. The Bast is a good friend, even if he had picked the stupidest names for himself. Artame flew past us, accidentally brushing the Shield I had erected around me. He bounced off painfully. “Murder!” he screamed, and disappeared, gone to his own dimension. Magical Shields are meant to repel constructs of Essence; to the elemental, touching one was like sticking your tongue in a light-socket.
The creature turned a corner and faced us. It growled threateningly. “I Banish Thee to the Hell that Spawned Thy Kind,” I said in Old Latin, releasing a good deal of my Essence into the Incantation. Eldritch energies crackled around the monster, encircling it and then closing in an inescapable vise. A blinding flash of light erupted.
The creature remained where it was. It snickered a little.
“Litter droppings!” Santa Claws snarled. He stood on his hind legs and assumed a pose that no normal feline would have attempted. A bolt of Soulfire exploded from between his out-stretched paws, and it struck the creature square in the chest. The monster staggered back with a surprised grunt of pain, but it recovered quickly, and started to walk towards us.
“Your tricks ain’t gonna help you, Biggins!” the monster roared. “I’m gonna make you pay!” I stopped my next Incantation in mid-sentence, and had to take a second to dismiss the sum-moned-up Essence before it could do some mischief. “Biggins? Randolph R. Biggins?” I said.
The creature paused for a moment. “Yes!” it roared, a little bit dubiously. “You have the wrong house!” I shouted. “Biggins Manor is over a mile away!”
The red glow in its eyes dimmed somewhat. “This isn’t one thousand Red River Road?” “Yes, it is,” I replied. “But Biggins lives at eleven hundred Red River Road, you moron.” The monster’s flesh seemed to sink into its skin. It shrank in size in a matter of moments, and in its place there stood a brown-haired girl, not a day over eighteen, dressed only in pink underwear. She was blushing furiously. “I... I’m...”
“It’s a good thing you came to the house of a sorcerer, or you might have killed some innocent Mundane,” I went on sternly. “And it’s a good thing I’m not particularly bloodthirsty, or you might have gotten yourself killed.” I wasn’t sure I could kill her, I didn’t add, even if I thought it. “What has Biggins done to you anyway?” All I knew about my neighbor is that he was filthy rich and that he was a very private person, but that was true of the entire neighbor-hood, myself included.
“He’s a murderer, a serial killer who preys on children. And a demon worshipper,” the girl said, on surer ground in this matter. She looked at me, and for a moment her eyes became the huge glowing red pits the monster had sported. I felt her gaze slide past my shields and into my very soul. “You aren’t lying,” she said with conviction. “I’m, ah, sorry for wrecking the house.”
“Mistakes happen, I guess,” I said absently. If what the girl had said about Biggins was true, I’d have to help her. And if it wasn’t, I’d have to stop her again. “Never mind the house. I’m coming with you, to make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice.”
“Okay,” she replied, still looking subdued.
“You should have let her have it anyway,” Santa Claws hissed. He was very defensive of his territory.
F
Fiigghhttiinngg iiss aallwwaayyss aann ooppttiioonn, I replied mentally. BBuutt iitt sshhoouulldd bbee tthhee llaasstt ooppttiioonn..To the girl, I said, “So how did you get here?”
“I drove. My motorcycle is behind some bushes outside, with my clothes.”
I sighed. I hate motorcycles. “We’ll take my Mercedes. By the way, how did you transform like you did?” I realized now that trying to banish her had been a futile mistake -- she was as human as I was.
Her expression became haunted, as if I’d mentioned a recently dead relative. “It’s called the Disciplines of the Flesh,” she replied. “You wouldn’t want to go through what I did to get them.”
I’d heard of the Disciplines, and the price you unwillingly paid to get them. “You’re right, I wouldn’t.” I tried to cheer her up. “Well, we’re off to kill the wizard.”
A good third of my house was destroyed, my familiar had deserted me, my cat roommate was pissed off, and I was heading out with a clearly unbalanced girl to fight a demon-worshipping serial killer. The night was young; I had a feeling it was going to get worse.
Introduction
This chapter contains a variety of new material for the WitchCraft RPG. Included here are new Character Concepts and Types, a brief description of several new Associations, and a number of new Qualities, Drawbacks and Skills. Most of this new information can be used in any WitchCraft games without modifications.
Some rules clarifications and corrections from the first edition of WitchCraft have been noted in sidebars throughout this text. These changes will be added to the future editions of WitchCraft, but are provided here so players are not required to buy another copy of the main rulebook.
Some optional rule suggestions are given. These may be discarded or used as desired. As always, the Chronicler should disallow or alter any of this information to suit the needs of her game.
New Character Concepts
These new Concepts are used to form the basic personality and motivations of the character. Players can use elements of more than one Concept to round out their characters. For example, a Forsaken-Survivor or a Scoundrel-Wanderer are certainly possible, and by filling in both sets of questions players can create a more unique charac-ter for the game. Along with those questions, how-ever, players should also ask themselves if the characters they are developing would work well in a game setting (as opposed to a novel or movie focusing on one protagonist). Keep in mind that a good game requires everyone to share the spotlight and not spoil others’ fun.
Forsaken
You have lost everything and nobody cares about you -- or at least you think so. Maybe you ran away from home or are an orphan. Perhaps you commit-ted a crime so heinous that all your friends and loved ones turned away from you, or perhaps you
were falsely accused of such a crime. You could belong to a group or sect of society that is despised by the mainstream, or could be afflicted by a severe problem or disease that makes you undesirable or contemptible in the eyes of others. This might not be your fault, yet the effect is the same: you are alone, an outcast.
You have few friends but you are often very loyal to those who would befriend you. You might be bitter towards the world that has rejected you, or you might blame yourself and are consumed by self-loathing. Among the Forsaken are runaways, prostitutes, the homeless, and people with uncon-ventional lifestyles (punk, gay, gothic, and similar fringe or underground groups).
Unlike the Weird Ones (who may be just as unconventional; see Witchcraft, Chapter Three: Roles, Character Concepts), your behavior or his-tory make most people react negatively to you. While a typical Weird One inspires puzzlement and maybe a little fear, you attract repugnance and con-tempt. Whether or not you have earned such feel-ings is up to each individual character story and is left to the player and Chronicler, of course.
Defining Questions: What made you an
out-cast? Was it something you did (or people think you did), or just who you are or what group or minority you belong to? Why isn’t your family on your side? Do you even have a family, and, if not, what happened to them? How do you feel about being Forsaken? Do you return society’s contempt with your own, or do you wish you could change?
Qualities and Drawbacks: You usually have
very low Social Levels and Resources. Many of you are Addicts or suffer from such mental Drawbacks as Delusions, Emotional Problems or Paranoia. Some have Contacts among other people in the fringes of society.
Professions: You generally work in marginal
jobs, either low-paying (like busboy at a low-rent diner, or a burger flipper) or illegal (panhandling, prostitution, petty theft).
Association: The Pariahs Covenant has many of
the Forsaken among its members. Other common Covenants for you include the House of Thanatos, which recruits people from the fringe of society, and the Fellowship of Judas, many of whose mem-bers are undead who committed suicide, or humans who narrowly avoided killing themselves.
Scoundrel
You are always looking out for number one, always ready to lie, cheat or steal. Even when you do the right thing, you often try to squeeze out some profit or benefit for yourself. You may or may not exploit your friends, but strangers are almost always fair game. This doesn’t mean that you are wholly evil -- sometimes, you act with perfectly good intentions, but your path always seems to lead to trouble. You can be humorously incompetent, or coldly efficient. Many of you are con men, gifted with charm and a good eye for human weakness. Even when fighting for a good cause, your methods will often be questionable.
Keep in mind that using this Character Concept does not excuse acting against the interests of other Cast Members. You do have friends and allies that you would not betray. Furthermore, even a villain-ous or weasel-like character like you will not fool-ishly endanger your position (or your life) by incur-ring the wrath of powerful companions. If you needlessly provoke others, you will not be protect-ed from the consequences of your actions.
Defining Questions: What made you into a
scoundrel? Were you deprived as a child, making you desperate to accumulate wealth and fortune? What do you want to acquire -- money, power or knowledge -- and how far will you go to acquire it? Do you seek to exploit everyone around you, or do you have some limits? Would you betray a friend for a large enough reward, or do you save your dirty tricks for your enemies?
Qualities and Drawbacks: Most commonly,
you are Covetous. Those among you who are suc-cessful may have high Resource levels, but you are usually relatively poor and hungry (which moti-vates you to do anything to get ahead).
Professions: You often belong to illegal or
quasi-legal professions, such as confidence man or thief. Sometime, you belong to mainstream profes-sions, but tend to stick to the seedier aspects, such as an ambulance-chaser lawyer or a used car sales-man. You often exaggerate their knowledge and power to impress and exploit the gullible.
Association: You are rarely found among the
Wicce and Sentinels, as their moral code precludes your type of behavior. Most of you are Solitaires. On rare occasions, you might be a Rosicrucian (if you are power-hungry) or a self-serving Pariah.
Student
You have embarked on a quest for knowledge. Unlike the Seeker (see WitchCraft, Chapter Three: Roles, Character Concepts), you have recently begun and are just now being initiated in the ways you have chosen to follow. Whether you are a budding martial artist learning the legendary arts of Tao-Chi, or a graduate student of archeology being introduced to forbidden knowledge, you are eager to learn and perhaps a little too impatient. Sometimes you think you are more powerful and learned than you really are, which may lead to serious trouble.
You must always have a teacher. You may be a new member of a Covenant, being introduced to the mysteries of the Gifted, or you may have been taken under the wing of a Solitaire practitioner. The teacher can be helping you out of sheer altruism, or may demand a heavy price (typically in services rather than money) for his knowledge.
Defining Questions: What made you interested in
learning the secret arts? Does curiosity or ambition motivate you? Who are your teachers? How did you come to be their student?
Qualities and Drawbacks: Depending on your
motivations and previous histories, you may have a wide variety of Qualities and Drawbacks. Some of you are Covetous, being motivated by the desire for power. You might also be Obsessed with the desire for knowledge. You generally have low or average Resource levels, but your school or teacher counts as a Contact.
Professions: Since you must spend most
of your time pursuing your vocation, you largely work at part-time jobs, and can be anything from a librarian to a waiter to a bouncer. Sometimes your school employs you in any number of capacities.
Association: Any Association is
possi-ble, although you work best with the Rosicrucians, Storm Dragons, and the Twilight Order, which have more formal-ized teacher-student traditions. The Wicce train young Gifted like you to master your abilities, but they place less focus on hierarchy and advancement. Some Covens even prefer that you develop your own styles of magic. This usually does not suit your type.
Wanderer
You are a modern day nomad, never staying in one place for too long, never settling down. You eventually find an excuse to move on. Maybe you are afraid of the responsibility of committing to one place and the people in it, or perhaps you feel there is something better waiting for you in the next city. You might just be driven by the desire to see new things. Unlike the Fugitive (see WitchCraft, Chapter Three: Roles, Character Concept), you are motivated by your own inner demons or yearnings. Like many nomads, you may have a “circuit” of places you visit periodi-cally so that anybody who knows you will have an idea of where you’ll be at a given time of the year. Alternatively, you may wander at random, rarely returning to the places you previously vis-ited.
You tend to travel through countries or conti-nents. You may wander around in a vehicle, on foot or by relying on the kindness of strangers. The remote roads of WitchCraft’s America are dangerous places, and you have to be quite adept at a number of mystical and mundane skills if you hope to survive. Nomads like you, especially those that choose the roads less traveled, often find signs of the Reckoning in small towns and on lonely trails, haunting the wilderness or hiding in the underbelly of the cities.
Your type works best for Stories where you arrive in a locale, deal with whatever conflict exists there (working with local Cast Members), and then move on. You could also participate in Stories where all the characters are on the move for their own reasons (the other Cast Members could be other Wanderers, Fugitives, or Seekers). On the other hand, you might decide to stay in one place for an indefinite period of time as long as there was a compelling reason for it (i.e., for the duration of a Story).
Defining Questions: What made you choose
your nomadic lifestyle? Do you have a destination (real or imagined) in mind? What is your pre-ferred mode of transportation? How do you make a living as you travel? Do you stick to a regular route, going back and forth between a string of destinations, or do you wander aimlessly, always going to a different place? Do you make friends in your travels, and do you ever return and visit them? What are your favorite places to visit whenever you arrive at a new destination?
Qualities and Drawbacks: You are sometimes
motivated by a negative mental trait such as an Obsession or Emotional Problem. You usually do not have much in the way of Resources. At best, you might own a vehicle and whatever you can carry in it. If you follow a specific path back and forth, you often have Contacts (and Adversaries) at some of your customary stopping points.
Professions: Most “ordinary” jobs are difficult
to perform if you do not have a permanent address, so you tend to stick to temporary work. You usually stay only long enough to earn enough money to move on. You might play guitar at a club in one town, and pick fruit for the minimum wage at the next.
Association: Your nature generally leads you
to be a Solitaire, owing no allegiance to any one Covenant. Among the Wicce, however, a growing number of young Gifted members have become like you and decided to explore the world, look-ing for signs of the Reckonlook-ing. As a wanderlook-ing Wicce, you travel alone or in small groups search-ing for supernatural outbreaks and puttsearch-ing a stop to them. Other Covenants with a good number of Wanderers include the Storm Dragons (for much the same reason as the Wicce) and the Pariahs (some of whom wander from city to city).
New Character Types
Two new Character Types are presented in this sourcebook. These Types can be chosen in addition to the four described previously (see WitchCraft, Chapter Three: Roles, Character Types).
Only the basic information on the new Character Types appears in this chapter. They are discussed in much greater detail in a chapter of their own, Chapter Three: Inhumans. A handy comparative reference chart listing all the generation points and special traits of the various WitchCraft Character Types is included in the Appendix. A separate char-acter sheet for each Type if also included in the Appendix.
Spirits: Disembodied beings of pure Essence,
spirits include all manner of strange creatures, from inhuman elementals and demonic fiends to the wandering souls of deceased humans. Two types, Ghosts and Phantasms, are described.
Undead: These characters have died but
contin-ue to inhabit their bodies, imbuing their physical shell with the semblance of life. Undead player characters include Vampyres and Relentless Dead.
New Associations
Described below are four new Associations, three of which are controlled by supernatural crea-tures. The following descriptions are brief and include only the most basic knowledge about the Association. Each is discussed in greater detail in Chapter Four: Associations. Chroniclers who wish to have the players discover facts about their Associations as they learn about the world of WitchCraft should limit their players to the mater-ial presented here. Otherwise, players and Chroniclers alike may review this information and the more expansive text of Chapter Four.
Fellowship of Judas -- The Iscariots
“Your life until now has been a waste -- or worse, you have been part of the problem. Now you have been Unborn and can try to fix all the damage you’ve done. Betray our trust or refuse us, and no
Hell can compare to what we will do to you.”
-- Customary Iscariot greeting to new members
“The same bastards who killed the Messiah and persecuted Christians are still around. The Inquisition and the Holocaust and worse are all the work of one group, a powerful Combine. We
have to do something to stop it, or even the Undead will suffer.”
-- Conrad the Apostle
Description: This Covenant is concerned
most-ly with redeeming the misdeeds of its members, and with combating any being that seeks to seize power over mortals. The Iscariots risk all against the Combine, the followers of the Mad Gods, and other foes -- their war is a form of penance.
The Iscariots choose new members from those who have damned themselves by their actions or cowardice. Many suicides are met by Vampyre Iscariots at the Threshold (see Chapter Six: Supernatural) and are forced to contemplate the consequences of their actions, the pain and suffer-ing they inflicted on their loved ones, or the thsuffer-ings they might have achieved. Those who repent and want to expiate their sins return from the Threshold as Undead members of the Fellowship or manage to escape death and become living Iscariots. Other Iscariots find still-living sinners and offer them a chance to undo the harm they’ve done. Non-Undead members are usually Mundane, but a large minority are Gifted or Lesser Gifted characters with diverse metaphysical powers, including the Disciplines of the Flesh.
Attributes: Attributes of the Iscariots vary
wide-ly. They are less concerned with any particular characteristic than with the idea that one’s sins must be undone.
Qualities and Drawbacks: The Fellowship’s
network of information and assistance can be pur-chased as a Contact (it costs 3-5 character points depending on the capacity of the Fellowship in a particular Chronicler’s campaign). After mending their ways, most members become Honorable and a few turn into Zealots. Sometimes, the desire to expiate one’s sins can lead to a number of Mental Drawbacks, including Delusions, Emotional Problems, and Obsessions.
Metaphysics: Vampyre members typically
develop extensive Undead powers and a few learn magical abilities. Gifted members favor Magic, Necromancy, Seer powers, and the Disciplines of the Flesh. There are even a number of Inspired humans in the group, whose faith has become so strong that they can perform miracles. Apparently, the Deity does not seem to mind that they are work-ing side by side with Undead, somethwork-ing that would drive most theologians to distractions if they knew about it.
Special Abilities: The sense of purpose of the
Iscariots gives them the strength to resist many of the typical measures taken against the Undead. Undead members have a +3 bonus to resist any Inspired Miracle or prayer (see WitchCraft, Chapter Six: Metaphysics) that directly affects or restrains them, providing they are attacked while performing a task of redemption or for a good cause (this is determined by the Chronicler). Due to their prolonged contact and familiarity with Vampyres, as well as their own faith, non-Undead members gain a +2 bonus against any Undead effect or power that requires the target to make a Resisted Test or Task.
Also, all Iscariots are given a special tattoo that allows members to recognize one another on sight.
Common Professions: Most Iscariots were
recruited from among the damned and the losers of society. Many were thieves, junkies, drug pushers or murderers. Others were misfits and geeks, unwanted and unloved people who often took their
own lives out of spite. They may come from all walks of life, from high school and college students to people living on the fringes of society.
Roleplaying Iscariots: Your old life was a big
nothing, a drop in a bucket of misery and petty cru-elty. You cared about nobody but yourself, about satisfying your needs. Nothing ever seemed to sat-isfy you, and eventually you became mired in self-pity. Your problems seemed so overwhelming that, as a final slap on the face of the world and the few people who still gave a damn about you, you tried to kill yourself or overdosed or drunkenly drove your car off a cliff. Your suicide attempt was an act of self-centered stupidity. You weren’t suffering from a horrible, terminal disease, nor were you in a truly hopeless, horrible situation. You simply didn’t love yourself (or those around you) enough to care. At the Threshold between Life and Death, you were confronted by an Iscariot. He manipulated the Deathscape and showed you just how pathetic your existence had become. For the first time in your life, you realized the extent of your actions. All the cruelty and lack of empathy in your life was thrown back at you. Facing damnation or a chance to redeem yourself, you finally abandoned your self-centered existence and transformed your life. Whether you were revived, woke up as an Undead, or became a bodiless Spirit, your old existence was gone: you were now an Iscariot, and your actions would finally have meaning.
It hasn’t been easy. You now have to think about what you do, both because you no longer want to be part of the problem, and because the Fellowship has many enemies. A misstep will mean a new, final death. You still have some of the lack of respect for authority that you had in your previous life, but now you put them to good use, bringing down those who would control the lives of others and letting people choose their own destinies, for good or ill. It is a hazardous, often grim existence.
You’ve never felt so good in your life.
House of Thanatos
“Death is but a revolving door between two worlds. We discovered how to travel back and forth unhampered. If we ever achieve our goals,
no one will have to fear dying, because nobody will have to die.”
-- Albert Niall, Vampyre House Scholar
“Dark forces threaten the land of the living and the abodes of the dead. Things that aren’t human,
that were never human, now crawl through the dark corners of the physical world and threaten the Death Realms. Only our kind, who can visit both worlds, has any hope of stopping them.”
-- Alexandra Benitez, House Scholar
Description: Worshippers and masters of the
passions and secrets of Life, Death and Unlife, the Thanatoi’s ultimate goal is to transcend the Cycle of Life and Death, to become immortal without being Undead, and to unify Earth and the Otherworlds. Besides these long-term and perhaps unattainable purposes, the House also works to protect members from those who would destroy them, and to fight any incursions from beyond real-ity, specifically the bizarre entities known as the Mad Gods.
The House of Thanatos has a firm presence in the fringe areas of society. Wherever discontented youths and jaded artists gather to jeer at the world and ponder about the meaninglessness of life, a Thanatoi or two can be found among the crowds. Members frequent underground clubs, cafes, and other dark places. They recruit new members from among those misfits and educate them in the secrets and passions of life after death. New House members soon find themselves exploring the Death Realms, where the darkness is all too real, and where the revelers found drinking, imbibing coffee and smoking cigarettes are quite dead.
Members of the House of Thanatos include Undead (mostly Vampyres), Spirits (usually Phantasms or Ghosts), and humans, including Necromancers, Magicians, and highly skilled or influential Mundanes. The leadership of the House is dominated by supernatural beings, but there is no bias against humans, provided they have the right look and attitude -- dark, ominous, and Gothic.
Attributes: Members of the House run the
gamut from thinkers and philosophers to assassins and enforcers. Any combination of Attributes is possible. Non-human members may have superhu-man Attributes (see Chapter Three: Inhusuperhu-mans).
Qualities and Drawbacks: Good, evil,
self-serving egotism, saintly devotion and plain insani-ty can all be found among the Thanatoi, with all the accompanying Mental Drawbacks. The Covenant is very tolerant of members, as long as they uphold the principles of the Covenant. Many older mem-bers have considerable Resources, and talented performers have higher-than-average Social Levels, as well as Artistic Talent.
Metaphysics: The supernatural members of the
Covenant tend to specialize in their unique powers and abilities (see Chapter Three: Inhumans). Additionally, many members learn Necromancy. Seers and Magicians can also be found among the Thanatoi, although in lesser numbers. A few Gifted with other Arts exist, but Divinely Inspired charac-ters are unheard of.
Special Abilities: All Thanatoi have a +2 bonus
to any Resisted Test or Task against the powers of Ghosts, Phantasms and other spirits of the Dead (where applicable).
Common Professions: The Undead and ghostly
Thanatoi have no need to work for a living, but many use their powers to appear as human and are employed, mostly as performers or scholars. The House owns and runs a number of clubs and cafes,
and many members give performances there. A couple of all-Vampyre bands sponsored by the House have become quite popular among the goth and post-industrial circles.
Human members of the Covenant are evenly divided among Gifted and Mundanes. The Gifted are almost all Necromancers or Sorcerers, with a smattering of Seers. Most of them live off grants given to them by the House, although a few have other occupations, typically scholastic professions such as college professor, lecturer, or performers.
Roleplaying the Thanatoi: You were always
interested -- some say obsessed -- with death and the world of the spirits. When your pet died, you didn’t cry but became very pensive and asked ques-tions that made the adults around you uncomfort-able. You soon learned that most people prefer to avoid thinking about the end of their lives. To you, life and death were part of a greater whole. You wanted to experience the most intense elements of life -- both pleasure and pain -- and you were not afraid of what lay at the other side of existence.
The Thanatoi found you and inducted you into their ranks. Soon you knew a great deal more about life and death than you had ever bargained for. Perhaps your induction involved Unbirth and a new existence as a Vampyre or a Phantasm. Perhaps the experience awakened latent Necromantic powers. Either way, now you travel freely between both worlds, dealing with the Living and Dead with the same degree of curiosity and interest.
Life in the House of Thanatos is not all research and exploration, however. Those who travel between the worlds have their share of enemies, from the rulers of Death Realms who see you as interlopers to monstrous beings who prey on the souls of humans both living and dead. You may have rivals within the House -- there are factions in the Covenant whose goals and purposes may be at odds with your own. Even petty disputes can be deadly when the people involved are powerful Undead, Spirits or Necromancers.
Pariahs
“You are one of us now. Your pain and your mad-ness called out to us. You have suffered much, but your will is strong, and now you have abilities mere mortals only dream of. Embrace your
suffer-ing and savor your dark memories, for within them you will find true power. We can unmake ourselves and transform into living nightmares to
bring terror to those who hurt us.”
-- Common Induction Greeting of the Pariahs
“Give us your hungry, your poor, your huddled masses -- and we will make them into monsters.”
-- Aaron the Unclean, Pariah Leader
Description: Some among the Gifted lived
tor-tured, miserable existences. Victims of years of abuse and privation, their powers acquired a unique form, enabling them to remold their bodies in a variety of ways. Due to the anger and self-loathing that often afflicts abuse survivors, their shape shift-ing is almost always monstrous and terrifyshift-ing. Persecuted and named unclean by normal society, these Gifted hid. They dwell among the homeless and the runaways. They recruit members from among the shunned, the destitute, the helpless. They teach neophytes about turning their misery into anger, and their anger into power. They call themselves the Pariahs and have been part of the urban landscapes of the world since the beginning of history. Although few in number, the Pariahs’ influence among the dispossessed and powerless has been long lasting.
What sets the Pariahs apart is their ability to channel their suffering and anguish through their bodies, allowing them to transform their flesh in strange and bizarre ways. Pariahs are masters of the Disciplines of the Flesh, a bizarre Gifted power which channels the Essence of the person through his body, altering it in monstrous and terrifying ways. Some Pariahs love piercing and self-muti-lation; others can adopt gruesome visages. Their special powers are very effective, but carry a
high price: to activate them, the Pariahs must relive the horrors that triggered their transformation in the first place. This continual reopening of emo-tional wounds has a terrible effect on their psyches. The Pariahs are loosely organized. Each city or region where any significant numbers (anything more than a handful) of Pariahs congregate has a Beggar King, a title that originated in the Middle Ages when the Pariahs hid among the poorest and most destitute in the infant cities of Europe. Members are subject to the decisions of their local Beggar King, although for the most part they are free to do as they please. Their rules are few but rigidly enforced: defend all Pariahs from outside enemies, maintain the secrecy of their existence from the Mundane world (although Pariahs recog-nize that other Gifted are privy to many of their secrets, they don’t like it), and, when possible, save those who are enduring the same horrors that cre-ated them. “Deliver others from the horrors that made you” is a Pariah motto; like many ideals, it is followed less often than some would like.
Attributes: Pariahs typically have average
phys-ical Attributes. Their mental Attributes tend to be higher than normal, with more emphasis on Willpower than Perception, and both are more favored than Intelligence. Their powers allow them to reshape their bodies and enhance their physiques to superhuman levels, however. A skinny teenage Pariah can turn into a gigantic muscle-bound beast in a matter of seconds.
Qualities and Drawbacks: All Pariahs are
sur-vivors of extensive abuse, typically during their childhood or adolescence; most are crippled (phys-ically or emotionally) as a result. Mental Drawbacks are very common. Physical Drawbacks are also not unknown, but the Disciplines of the Flesh allow them to overcome any physical dis-ability with ease, so the value of most such Drawbacks should be reduced by half or one-third at the Chronicler’s discretion (the more easily the Pariah can sidestep the problems of his disability, the less it should be worth). Most Pariahs have
extensive Contacts among those in the fringes of society, including the homeless, runaways, prosti-tutes and other unwanted. A few also have Contacts with criminal organizations, although only at the “street” level (such as gangs, local criminal net-works, and so forth).
Metaphysics: About half of all Pariahs know the
Disciplines of the Flesh, the eerie ability to remold their bodies by awakening memories of their life’s suffering and misery. This ability requires the char-acter to know Anguish, a Special skill (see Chapter Five: Metaphysics). A smaller percentage are Gifted with the Sight, and a sizable fraction of the group is made up of Mundanes. The Pariahs have little access to magical knowledge; many of them are not even sure magic exists, and think it is mere-ly some form of the Second Sight. No other Arts are commonly known.
Special Abilities: This Covenant recruits people
from among the most victimized, exploited and brutalized. Survivors of child abuse, incest, slav-ery, and worse are the preferred members. Their mental scars are used as fuel for the Disciplines of the Flesh. As a result, all Disciple Pariahs start out with one free level of Anguish. Non-Disciple Pariahs get a bonus of +1 to their Willpower. This additional level of Anguish or Willpower is added on top of any levels purchased normally.
Common Professions: Many members work as
social workers or participate in organizations that help the abused and helpless. One can find Pariahs manning battered women shelters, soup kitchens, and similar institutions (and woe to any abuser who tries to break into those places). Other Pariahs lead double lives, often masquerading as homeless peo-ple, prostitutes and other undesirables -- the better to find others of their kind, and to deal with those who would harm them.
Roleplaying Pariahs: Your youth was a living
hell. Most adults around you were at best dysfunc-tional figures, unable to fulfill their responsibili-ties. At worst, they were monsters far more terrible
than any shape you have assumed. Years of brutal-ity and abuse have permanently marked you. Unlike most victims, however, your suffering also carried a strange gift, and you can make your vic-tim’s rage and despair come to life and give you raw, destructive power. Along the way, others like you found and adopted you into their group, and you became a Pariah. You believe that your fellow monsters are the only one who truly understand your existence, since they have experienced some of the same horrors you endured.
Your motivations are often determined by your early experiences. You might wish revenge on your tormentors, or on anybody like them. Maybe you only want to be left alone, to crawl into the dark places of the world and lick your wounds in peace. Like all other Gifted, however, you will be dragged into the secret conflicts of the occult world, will-ingly or not. Even if that were not the case, your life could never be normal. If you are a Disciple of the Flesh, every time you use your power, you are forced to relive your worst ordeals. Where other abuse victims can at least find some solace in for-getfulness, your traumas are always being brought to the fore, again and again. One might think you would have grown jaded from the repetitive expe-riences, but each time feels as painful as the first. And people wonder if you are insane: after such experiences, sometimes you marvel at the fact that you haven’t completely lost your mind.
Storm Dragons
“The Shaolin know of us, but they are the students of renegades who rejected our ways. The wise men of Tibet understood us, but they preferred to
take no sides in our war. We alone made no dis-tinctions and accepted all who were willing to
fight for the cause, be they Western or Asian, Chinese or Japanese, yellow, white or brown. For
are we all not beings of Chi and Flesh? To the demons from beyond, we are all prey. If we make
any finer distinctions, we shall surely fail.”
-- Tsao Lung, introduction to the Book of Storms
“I buried my two best friends last night. We had become complacent, and even displayed some of our abilities in public. ‘What’s the harm in that?’ we asked ourselves. We had money and fame, the respect of thousands of students, and we were still
doing the work of the Storm Dragons. But our enemies knew where to find us, and where to strike. Even our powers were no match for treach-ery and bombs, dark sorctreach-ery and poison. To those
of us who are out there starring in movies and giving public shows, I tell you ‘beware’ -- the dark
forces being stirred will target you first.”
-- Johnny Wang, Storm Dragon
Description: Almost every martial arts style in
the world has legends about masters who can per-form superhuman feats as a result of their dedica-tion and strength of spirit. After decades of movies and television shows depicting such feats, the gen-eral public has become jaded to those so called “kung fu tricks” and no longer finds any wonder-ment in the martial arts. In the world of WitchCraft, however, there are Gifted martial artist who can outdo the most dazzling special effects of the movies. A gathering of these masters, the Storm Dragons, use their powers not for self-aggrandize-ment but to keep at bay the unspeakable beings known as the Mad Gods and to hunt down all supernatural predators.
Storm Dragons recruit members from many dif-ferent places. Although they emerged in Asia, they have expanded to other parts of the world, often following communities of Asian emigrants through all five continents. Storm Dragons recruit not only martial arts enthusiasts but also thinkers and philosophers, psychic sensitives, and anybody who seems a good candidate for enlightenment. The new members are taught the secrets of Storm Fist, a system of physical and spiritual enlightenment that combines breathing exercises, philosophical teachings and intensive gymnastics and combat training. The Dragons have been taught to think as well as to fight, and to combine ancient teachings with modern technology. The Gifted among them also learn the metaphysical arts of Tao-Chi, which significantly enhances their already advanced physical abilities.
This Covenant has had its share of problems, however. Many former students have abandoned the teachings of the Covenant. Over the centuries, some of these renegades founded their own schools of martial arts. If one believes the more militant Storm Dragons, every martial arts clan in Asia, from the Shaolin Temple to the Ninja, is the cre-ation of a former Dragon who went astray. More recently, some members have started to show off their abilities in public, attracting unwanted inter-est and endangering their lives as well as the safe-ty of the entire Covenant.
Although their goals are similar to those of the Sentinels and other “guardian” Covenants, the Storm Dragons do not claim to worship a greater power. At the root of their teachings is the idea that all living beings have the potential to achieve god-hood through personal enlightenment and develop-ment. They would be the first to admit that humans are a long way from reaching that ideal, however.
Attributes: Storm Dragons should have good
physical Attributes. They do not have to be extra-ordinary. Some members are only average, but since most recruits start out as martial artists or athletes, or are raised by the society from early
childhood, they are usually in good shape. Characters who belong to this Association are granted special abilities that affect their Attributes (see Special Abilities below).
Qualities and Drawbacks: Some Storm
Dragons have combat-oriented Qualities like Situational Awareness and Hard to Kill. Although there are a few wealthy members, most have rela-tively low Resources. The Society can be consid-ered a Contact, although usually of low value (1-3 points depending on the abilities granted them in a particular Chronicler’s campaign), because it does not have a great deal of influence or numbers out-side martial arts circles.
Metaphysics: All Gifted Storm Dragons are
trained in the secrets of Tao-Chi, the Way of the Soul, which allows practitioners to channel their Essence through their bodies. Gifted and Lesser Gifted members should have both Chi Mastery (a Special skill) and at least one Tao-Chi power (see Chapter Five: Metaphysics). The second most common Gifted power among the Storm Dragons is the Second Sight. Members with psychic poten-tial are encouraged to cultivate and develop this power. Magic and Necromancy are rare: the secrets of magic are not taught by the organization, but may be acquired elsewhere.
Other powers are almost never found among the society. The Disciplines of the Flesh, being the result of mental suffering and a symptom of tor-tured souls, are considered to be more of a disease than a power. Finally, the world-view of the Storm Dragons is incompatible with Divine Inspiration.
Special Abilities: Storm Dragons all undergo
extensive physical training, which grants them access to the Storm Fist Martial Arts discipline, and gives them certain bonuses to their Attributes. Add one to any two of their physical Attributes (Strength, Dexterity or Constitution; the bonuses cannot be “stacked” on a single Attribute). Being human, Storm Dragons cannot have an Attribute value over 6, however.
Additionally, up to 10 points of a non-Mundane character’s Metaphysics points can be used to raise Attributes instead. Of course, this will reduce the amount of points available to purchase special powers. These points are used just like Drawback points in terms of the cost (see Chapter Two: Rules, Purchasing Attributes with Drawback Points).
Common Professions: Storm Dragons belong to
a variety of professions. Many are self-employed, either as artists or sportsmen, which allows them to set their own hours and perform jobs for the soci-ety when necessary. The Storm Dragons fund a number of martial arts schools across the world, and many members are employed as instructors.
Roleplaying Storm Dragons: You have spent
years honing your body and your mind into the ulti-mate weapon and tool. You can heal as well as well as destroy, protect as well as attack. Violence must be used only as a last resort and must always be tempered with reason and compassion. You have learned to control your baser passions, although, being human, you know this control is not perfect. Your enemies are terrible creatures from beyond our reality, or perversions of the natural order of life. Unlike your predecessors, many of whom lived out their existence without contact with the supernatural, you now have to battle bizarre crea-tures with increasing frequency. It was your fate to be born in time for a major conflict, and your pur-pose is to do your best, no matter what the cost.
